In the aftermath of the recent terrorist attacks in Brussels, Nice, Munich and now Berlin, European leaders and counter-terrorism authorities are working diligently to find new ways of thwarting attacks.

But as the death toll and injuries rise have citizens and their leaders throughout the EU resigned themselves to a new normal where attacks become a common occurrence instead of an exception?

In a recent interview conducted by the Washington Post, The Geneva Centre for Security Policy Deputy Director Prof. Mohammad-Mahmoud Ould Mohamedou and other experts offered their insights and concluded that while counter-terrorism authorities may be successfully disrupting larger attacks, small-scale violence may be inevitable.

“We see how the terrorism networks have much more difficulty in planning operations on a large scale,” said Deputy Director Mohamedou. The Berlin attack “is not necessarily an intelligence failure, because unless you start surveilling everyone, then these cases can happen everywhere.”

ABOUT GCSP

The Geneva Centre for Security Policy (GCSP) is an international foundation established in 1995, with 52 member states, for the primary purpose of promoting peace, security and international cooperation through executive education and training, applied policy analysis and dialogue.